


Pain Can Bring People Closer

by Annide



Series: 1998, or the year everything changed [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family Bonding, Post-Battle of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 14:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annide/pseuds/Annide
Summary: Bill Weasley's and Fleur Delacour's stories: Bill and Fleur didn't have a typical newlywed year and now that the year is over, they're trying to find a way to get back to who they were before.





	Pain Can Bring People Closer

                Life was peaceful at Shell Cottage. Days went by at the rhythm of the waves. It felt like nothing bad could ever reach it, not even the war in progress. Or at least that's what it felt like when they first moved in. Before they buried Dobby. Before they became a refuge. A refuge for Ron who lost his way and didn't know what the point of moving around with Harry and Hermione, who seemed to know what they were doing so much more than he did, was. A refuge for Dean, Luna, Griphook and Ollivander after they were rescued from Malfoy's Manor. A refuge for the trio as they took a well-deserved rest after months of being on the run, a time to prepare for what would follow, and accept the fact they'd reached the next step in their journey.

                On the morning following the Battle of Hogwarts, Bill and Fleur came back to Shell Cottage exhausted, but unable to go to sleep. They sat on their couch in each other's arms and simply listened to the comforting sound of waves. There was nothing to say at this moment, they had fought all night and lost both friends and family. All they needed was a few hours of peace and quiet to feel their pain and fully wrap their minds around the fact the war was finally over, after all these years.

                It took them a few days to get back into a normal routine. Bill wanted to go back to work the Monday following Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks's funeral. Fleur thought it was too early. He had been hit hard, he had been close to Remus and it had only been a week since his own brother's service. But he needed purpose, he couldn't sit around the cottage doing nothing anymore, he had to busy himself. So Fleur found him things to fix on the house, made him build a crib for Teddy Lupin, anything to make sure he was occupied, but always had someone around. They kept regular contact with everyone. They paid a visit to George who had locked himself in his apartment and talked to him for hours. The third weekend after the Battle, Bill and Fleur went to Grimmauld Place to give Harry the crib they'd made for Teddy.

                "Hey, nice to see you again outside of a funeral, Harry. How have you been?" Bill shook Harry's hand.

                "Busy. This place still needs a lot of work, I've been doing some tests at the Ministry to become an auror and Teddy is keeping me pretty occupied. I'm grateful Kreacher accepted to work for me, don't know what I'd do without him. How about you too?"

                "It's been hard, not gonna lie to you. Losing my brother, Remus and Tonks, all those people I was close to. Harder than last time, when I lost my uncles."

                "Right, I forgot you were old enough to remember the First War. I'm sorry you had to go through this twice."

                "Me too, but Fleur's been great. She knows what I need better than I do, she's made sure to find me things to do. Like this crib, we thought you might need one."

                "Yeah, I found Sirius and Regulus's old one in the attic, it's done the job for now, but this one looks much better. Thank you."

                "I'll bring it where you want it, just show the way."

                Harry acquiesced and started up the stairs with Fleur, Bill followed making the crib fly in front of him. They stopped in what used to be the master bedroom, where Mr and Mrs Black slept decades ago and where Buckbeak did at the beginning of the war. The room looked nothing like it used anymore. The walls were now of a lilac colour who reminded them a little of Tonks's purple hair. It had everything you'd need in a nursery, including a bookshelf full of children stories for Harry to read to Teddy, a touch Remus sure would've included himself.

                "Looks like you made the nursery his parents would've made," Fleur commented.

                "I tried. I can't replace them, but I'll do my best to be a parent they would be proud of for their son."

                "They trusted you with this because they believed you could do it. Seems like they were right, you're doing great so far." Fleur smiled. "Is that him?" She picked up the purple haired baby from the old crib. "Il est si adorable!"

                "Didn't you meet him last week at the funeral?"

                "We seem to never have crossed path with Teddy, every time we saw you, someone else had him." Bill couldn't take his eyes off of Fleur playing with Teddy.

                "The funerals have been pretty crazy. I can't remember who we saw when." Harry said.

                "Yes, I'm glad it's over."

                "Talk for yourself, I'm going to another one tomorrow."

                "Who for?"

                "Colin Creevey, he was in Ginny's class, he took a lot of pictures, liked me quite a lot."

                "Oh, yes, I think Ginny mentioned she was going when we had her over for dinner last week." Fleur turned her attention away from Teddy for a moment. "Will it be strange seeing her there? Charlie told us last night you two broke up."

                "How does Charlie know about this already?"

                "Maybe he talked to Ginny?"

                "I doubt it. She hasn't really been feeling like seeing people and I just saw her two days ago. In fact, I was having dinner at the Burrow and Mrs Weasley mentioned how sad she was that none of her sons visited since the funeral."

                Fleur felt bad. She should've suggested going to Bill's parents. They probably were in a similar state of mind as her husband. Maybe they could help each other through those difficult times.

                "Charlie's been staying at Hogwarts and hanging out with Neville Longbottom, news get to him fast," Bill explained as if Harry had never said anything about Mrs Weasley or the Burrow.

                After an afternoon of Fleur playing with Teddy, promising him she would teach him French when he got older, and a nice dinner cooked by Kreacher, Bill and Fleur were back at Shell Cottage.

                "You seemed to enjoy spending time with Teddy, I thought you forgot Harry and I were even there."

                "I did, he's a nice baby. Don't you think it'd be fun to have one of our own one day?"

                "Of course, let's make one right now."

                Bill wrapped his arms around Fleur and started kissing her neck. She laughed.

                "I didn't mean right this minute."

                "Why wait? The war is over, there's no reason not to start a family."

                "Talking of family, how about we go visit your parents this week? I think they'd like it."

                "I'm kissing your neck, doing all the things you like and you're thinking about my parents?"

                "I can't get what Harry said out of my head, Bill. Your mom is sad because neither you or your brothers have been home, that's not good for me. Family's always been important to you, you can't stay away. And we can't start our own until yours is doing well again."

                "That's unfair, my family's doing just fine."

                "It used to be really close and what every other family wished they were like, not doing fine and staying apart from each other."

                "We're not staying apart. Ginny's at the Burrow with our parents, Ron is in Australia with Hermione's family, George is getting visits from all of us, Percy is talking to us again and Charlie was just here last night."

                "You're never all together anymore. I've decided, we're going to the Burrow on Monday and inviting all your siblings over for next weekend, before Charlie goes back to Romania."

                "How about we just invite them over and not go to the Burrow?"

                "Why don't you want to see your parents?"

                "I want to see them, we can have them over tomorrow if you want. I'm just not going over there."

                "What's your problem? You leave the cottage all the time to visit other people. We went to George's, Kingsley's and Harry's, why not the Burrow?"

                "Seeing Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes without Fred or George there was hard enough as it is. The Burrow has all those memories and I'm not ready to face them."

                "You can't avoid it forever."

                "Of course not, just like George can't stay locked up in his apartment for the rest of his life. We all need some time, please let me have some."

                "Alright, but not too much time, I'll bring this up again. Are you okay with inviting the whole family for dinner next weekend?"

                "Sure, it'll be nice being all together again."

                "Good, I'll make a visit to the Burrow on Monday to invite Ginny and your parents. Can you take care of telling Charlie, Percy and George?"

                "You can count on me. Now, what do you say we go upstairs and blow off some steam?"

                Time went by and while Bill felt better and eventually went back to work, he still didn't go to the Burrow. Fleur took the habit to visit Mr and Mrs Weasley once a week. She could see they were struggling and wishing their sons would come by every once in a while. They barely even saw their daughter who still lived with them. Though it might be for the best, Ginny looked terrible. She had bags under her eyes and could never stay around very long, as though she did her best to hold it together for Fleur but couldn't do so for more than a few minutes. It was obvious the youngest Weasley wasn't getting enough sleep, if any, and Fleur was worried about her. She invited her to Shell Cottage to spend time with Bill, but was unsuccessful.

                July came and with it the end of the school year at Beauxbâtons.  Gabrielle, now 12 years old, was free to come for a visit. Mr and Mrs Delacour would be able to enjoy some time alone while the sisters reunited for a few weeks. Gabrielle had never seen the Cottage and was very excited to spend time there and get to know her brother-in-law better. They hadn't had much of a chance before because Bill's French was far from good and so was Gabrielle's English. They were now able to speak both languages well enough that they wouldn't need Fleur to translate. She was very proud of her husband and sister.

                Fleur thought the presence of someone who had been far from the center of the action during the war would greatly help in cheering them up. After all, Gabrielle wasn't affected by all that happened the way they were. She hadn't lost anyone close to her, or participated in nor even seen Battle and she was quite young still, not entirely aware of everything, since Voldemort concentrated his efforts in the UK. It was easier to miss the France part of the war, especially when you were a child shielded from the worst by your parents.

                "Gabrielle, ma chérie, tu m'as tellement manqué!"

                "Fleur, je suis si contente de te voir. Comment vas-tu?"

                "Je vais bien. Nous allons avoir beaucoup de plaisir ensemble cet été."

                Fleur got her sister all settled in and the three of them had a quiet evening playing games. The next day, Angelina Johnson, George's girlfriend, came for a visit. She was a frequent visitor and they were always happy to see her. Fleur wouldn't wish Angelina's situation on anyone, having your boyfriend locked in his apartment, frozen by the loss of his twin brother. It must've been terribly hard. Fleur was surprised at how well the both of them ended up getting along. They were becoming good friends, though Angelina's visits were getting further and further apart, like she was hiding something from them. Gabrielle was happy to meet one of her sister's friends. They spent the day showing the young girl around London and shopping on Diagon Alley, while Bill was at work.

                A few weeks passed, Bill and Gabrielle got to know each other a lot better. Still, Fleur thought he stared a little too much at her hanging out with her sister, like there was something on his mind, an idea bothering him. Gabrielle noticed it too. She went to him one night.

                "Bill, why do you always look at Fleur and me? Is it because you want to join us? Because you can if you want. We'd love you to do more activities with us."

                "It's not that. If you want me to join you I can, but I want you to get proper sister time. I've just been thinking, it's been a while since I last hung out one on one with any of my siblings, or even just a few of us together. Too long maybe."

                Bill stared into nothingness. Gabrielle sat next to him, looking up at him enquiringly, as Fleur inched closer to listen.

                "I see you two having fun and I can't stop trying to remember when was the last time Fred and I spent any real time together. And it's too late now. I can't fix it."

                "It may be too late for you to hang out with Fred, but you still have time to see your other siblings."

                "You're right. Tu es très sage pour une si jeune fille."

                "J'ai 12 ans, je ne suis plus une enfant."

                "Bien sûr." Bill turned to his wife. "Fleur, would you mind if I left you and Gabrielle alone? I think I'd like to visit my brothers."

                "As long as you're back in time for the end of summer dinner at your parents' next week. You promised you'd go."

                "Of course I will, I want to spend time with my sister too." Bill went upstairs to pack and came back a few minutes later. He didn't want to wait, Romania wasn't exactly next door. "It was nice having you around this summer, Gabrielle. I'll see you at Christmas, you can show me around your hometown." Bill hugged Gabrielle, kissed Fleur and left.

                Charlie was thrilled to see him. They had always been the big brothers, the elders of the family, they had almost four years together before getting another sibling. They had a special bond and had always gotten along great despite their different interests. They used to hang out together as kids when the younger ones started annoying them. They were best friends since before they could walk. When Bill showed up unexpectedly at his door, Charlie took him in his arms. They spent two days hiking, watching dragons and talking. Charlie loved Bill's idea to visit each of his siblings to spend one on one time with them. What a great and fun way to heal.

                Percy had always been harder to get along with. Before he started Hogwarts, Bill and Charlie were secretly convinced their brother would end up in Slytherin. He was just so ambitious and focused on achieving his goals. He spent the summer before starting school learning everything about Hogwarts, including rules even Bill, who was a prefect at the time, didn't know. But they still had a good relationship growing up. The past few years had been hard, but Percy was back now and he'd apologized. They spent a quiet day in Percy's apartment, drinking tea and catching up. Bill was happy to learn his brother may soon have a new girlfriend. Percy told him about getting really close to a girl he'd met at the start of summer. It felt like they hadn't properly talked in forever and it felt good to do it now. Bill had missed his brother more than he'd realized.

                Fred had been buried in a beautiful cemetery in Ottery St Catchpole. Bill spent an entire morning sitting by his grave, sometimes talking about all sorts of things, sometimes thinking silently. He hadn't realized how much he needed to come here and actually see his brother's name on that stone to fully process what had happened. "I'm sorry we didn't hang out more when you were alive," Bill said before he left. He could never fix it, but saying the words helped.

                George met him outside the Leaky Cauldron. They spent the day walking around London. George wasn't completely back to his old self yet and Bill couldn't get used to the black hair, but they still had a lot of fun. They entered a muggle building once just to press all the buttons in the elevator and run out. George said he used to do that with Fred when they got bored. Bill liked it, it was surprisingly exhilarating. Getting a glimpse of his brothers' lives was very interesting, though weirdly George didn't want them to go to his place. When pressed about it, he said he had a surprise for the whole family. Bill would have to wait two more days until the end of summer dinner at the Burrow to find out. Talking of which, both of them admitted being nervous at the idea of going back there. They hadn't set foot in their childhood home in months. The only time George had ever been home without Fred was during the Battle of the Seven Potters, when he lost his ear. Bill assured him it was hard for all of them and they would all get through it together. All of George's siblings were there to support him.

                Ron was the only one who had been back to the Burrow already. He had just moved into a new apartment and it was chaos. There were boxes everywhere. Hermione was going crazy packing for Hogwarts. She greeted Bill, exchanged a few words with him and left them alone to go buy all the supplies and books she needed for her last year. Bill helped Ron unpack a few boxes then they spent what was left of the day playing wizard chess. Bill hadn't been able to beat Ron in years, but it was still fun to try. It was hard to believe how fast his youngest brother had grown up and everything he'd had to go through from a young age because he befriended Harry Potter. Bill sometimes thought Ron might be the bravest member of the family. Sure, Bill had joined the Order and fought in several battles too, but not as a teenager, and he didn't sacrifice as much, he had never come as close to his breaking point as Ron had this past year. He was glad he had been able to help when his brother needed him. Bill was looking forward to seeing what Ron would do next.

                Ginny was headed to Hogwarts for her seventh and last year the next day and she wasn't sure she was ready. Bill knew she had struggled a lot this summer, but he also knew she was strong, stronger than any of her brothers maybe. She would get through it. They climbed up the hill behind the Burrow and spent most of the day laying on their backs, looking at the clouds. Ginny told Bill about her feelings for Luna and how she was scared of not being able to be a good Quidditch captain anymore. Bill assured his sister she would be fine, that McGonagall would make sure everyone would be, help was always provided at Hogwarts. They had never spent much time alone together before, what with all their brothers and their 11 years of age difference. Bill made a mental note to do this more often, he had a great sister.

                On August 31st, Fleur and Gabrielle decided to make a big brunch for themselves and sit on the living room floor to eat it in their pyjamas. It was their last day together until Christmas and they wanted to make the most of it. Fleur told her sister all kinds of stories from the war, the kinds she thought were appropriate to share with a 12-year-old. Gabrielle helped her sister get ready for the Weasley dinner and when the afternoon reached an end, she hugged Fleur and used Floo powder to get back home.

                Fleur apparated outside the Burrow where Bill was waiting for her. He smiled when he saw her and she kissed him. They had made it through the summer, they had done what they had to do and they were now ready to move on from all the pain and problems of the war. They could finally start planning for their future properly.


End file.
